Previous research suggests that youth who grow up in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods face higher odds of becoming obese. Neighborhood effects scholars, meanwhile, have suggested that contextual influences may increase in strength as children age. This is the first study to examine whether developmental epochs moderate the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on obesity over time. I use thirteen waves of new restricted and geo-coded data on children ages 2 - 18 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Children and Young Adults. Bivariate and pooled logistic regression results suggest that neighborhood disadvantage has a stronger impact on adolescents' likelihood of becoming obese. Fixed effects models reveal that after adjusting for observed and unobserved confounders, adolescents continue to face higher odds of becoming obese due to the conditions associated with living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Moreover, as research on adults suggests, girls experience larger impacts of neighborhood disadvantage than boys.

Bibliography Citation

Alvarado, Steven Elias. "Neighborhood Disadvantage and Obesity across Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from the NLSY Children and Young Adults Cohort (1986-2010)." Social Science Research 57 (May 2016): 80-98.

Research on residential inequality focuses heavily on adult economic outcomes as crucial components of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Yet, empirical evidence on whether youth neighborhoods have a lasting impact on adult economic outcomes at the national level is scarce. Further, we know little about how youth neighborhood effects on adult economic outcomes manifest. This study uses 26 years (14 waves) of restricted panel data from the NLSY, Children and Young Adults cohort -- data that have never been used to analyze long-term neighborhood effects -- to examine whether youth neighborhood disadvantage impacts adult economic outcomes through sensitive years in childhood, teen socialization, duration effects, or cumulative effects. Sibling fixed effects models that net out unobserved effects of shared family characteristics suggest that youth neighborhood disadvantage increases joblessness and reduces income in adulthood. However, the timing of exposure across developmental stages of youth does not appear to act as a significant moderator while sustained exposure yields pernicious effects on adult economic outcomes. Moreover, these results are robust to alternative variable specifications and cousin fixed effects that net out potentially unobserved confounders, such as the inheritance of neighborhood disadvantage across three generations.

This paper uses surveys of young men and women 14-24 and examines whether 'highest grade completed' is a sufficient measure of education for use in models of occupational achievement. The data on which this paper are based are: approximate information on what subjects were taken, quality of education, degrees received, and number of years completed. The findings indicate that 'highest grade completed' adequately measures the impact of education on occupational achievement, though the other indicators slightly affect this outcome as well.

This study investigates racial differences in the short-term and long-term effect of living in public housing as a child on socioeconomic attainment among young adults from low income families. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data and state-level public housing information, propensity score matching estimations addressed the self selection problems encountered when evaluating the impact of welfare programs. The study findings indicate that Blacks with short-term public housing residence during adolescence seem to be more disadvantaged in terms of housing self-sufficiency and car ownership in an early adulthood than their low-income Black counterparts who lived in private housing. In the long run; however, public housing residence had very small effects on socioeconomic attainment of both White and Black young adults. The benefits of public housing in terms of providing a secure residence for economically vulnerable groups; therefore, outweigh any potential negative impacts.

Non-intact Families and Diverging Educational Destinies: A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States
Social Science Research 63 (March 2017): 181-191.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X15300752
Cohort(s):
NLSY97
Publisher:
ElsevierKeyword(s):
British Cohort Study (BCS); Cross-national Analysis; Educational Attainment; Family Characteristics; Family Structure; Germany, German; Italy/Italian Social Surveys

We examine whether the presence of non-intact families in society is related to increased inequality in educational attainment according to social background, as suggested by the 'diverging destinies' thesis. We analyze four countries, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, that differ in the prevalence of non-intact families and in the strength of the negative association between growing up in a non-intact family and children's educational attainment. We use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach to calculate a 'counterfactual' estimate of differences in educational attainment between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged children in the hypothetical absence of non-intact families. Contrary to the diverging destinies thesis, we find little differences between actual and 'counterfactual' levels of inequality in educational attainment in all four countries. Whereas growing-up in a non-intact family affects the individual chances of educational attainment, the overall contribution of non-intact families to aggregate levels of social background inequality is minimal.

Bibliography Citation

Bernardi, Fabrizio and Diederik Boertien. "Non-intact Families and Diverging Educational Destinies: A Decomposition Analysis for Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States." Social Science Research 63 (March 2017): 181-191.

This study explores how father involvement is associated with adolescent risk behaviors among youth in first, second, and third-generation families in US. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (Rounds One–Three), and discrete time logit regressions, we find that father involvement predicts a reduced likelihood of subsequent engagement in risky behaviors among adolescents. Being a first-generation immigrant youth is also associated with reduced risky behaviors. Two-way interaction models indicate that father involvement matters more for sons than for daughters. Two-way interaction models also indicate that father involvement does not interact with immigration status to predict adolescent risky behaviors, but is significant for adolescents in immigrant and native-born families. These findings are preliminary because of two important limitations. First, these data did not capture country of origin variations, and the analyses did not take into consideration cultural differences in parenting among immigrant groups that are likely to influence adolescent outcomes. A strength is that all analyses control for maternal involvement.

Bibliography Citation

Bronte-Tinkew, Jacinta, Kristin Anderson Moore, Randolph C. Capps and Jonathan Zaff. "The Influence of Father Involvement on Youth Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents: A Comparison of Native-Born and Immigrant Families." Social Science Research 35,1 (March 2006): 181-209.

The negative correlation between women's employment and fertility is well documented. However, the causal nature of that relationship is not clearly understood. Does increased fertility decrease labor force participation? Or, does labor force participation decrease fertility? Or are both true? Data from the 1979?1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are examined using event history analysis. Detailed part-time and full-time employment histories and time-sensitive measures of fertility are analyzed. Findings indicate that both pregnancy and the number of preschoolers hinder non-employed women's entrance to the work force. While pregnancy has no effect on employed women's hazard of exit, preschool children increase the hazard of labor force exit for full-time workers. Older children have the opposite effect: they encourage full-time employment. Older children decrease the likelihood that mothers will exit either part- or full-time employment and increase the likelihood that non-employed mothers will enter full-time employment. Finally, both part- and full-time employment reduce women's hazard of pregnancy. Findings are consistent across racial and ethnic categories. [Copyright 2003 Elsevier]

Bibliography Citation

Budig, Michelle Jean. "Are Women's Employment and Fertility Histories Interdependent? An Examination of Causal Order Using Event History Analysis." Social Science Research 32,3 (September 2003): 376-402.

Mental and Physical Health Impairments at the Transition to College: Early Patterns in the Education-Health Gradient
Social Science Research 74 (August 2018): 120-131.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X17305811
Cohort(s):
NLSY97
Publisher:
ElsevierKeyword(s):
College Enrollment; Disability; Health, Mental; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; High School Completion/Graduates; High School Curriculum

Part of the education-health gradient may be related to inequalities in the transition from high school to college by health impairment status. In this paper, we use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to investigate the link between health impairments beginning prior to high school completion and college-going, distinguishing between individuals with mental, physical, or multiple health impairments and between enrollment in 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions. We find that individuals with mental impairments or multiple impairments are less likely to go to 4-year postsecondary institutions than individuals without health impairments, controlling on background and high school preparation. We also find evidence that advanced math course-taking in high school, an important step on the pathway to a 4-year college for all students, does not provide students with mental impairments the same return as students without health impairments. We discuss implications for policy to address educational inequalities in health.

Bibliography Citation

Carroll, Jamie M., Melissa Humphries and Chandra Muller. "Mental and Physical Health Impairments at the Transition to College: Early Patterns in the Education-Health Gradient." Social Science Research 74 (August 2018): 120-131.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Child Sample (CNLSY79), we sought to elaborate the complex interplay between childhood health and educational development over the early life course. Our approach made use of sibling comparisons to estimate the relationship between birth weight, cognitive development, and timely high school completion in models that spanned childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood. Our findings indicated that lower birth weight, even after adjusting for fixed-family characteristics and aspects of the home environment that varied between siblings, was associated with decreased cognitive skills at age 5 and marginally significantly slower growth rates into adolescence. In addition, low birth weight increased the risk of not graduating by age 19, although this relationship reflected differences in cognitive development. Additional moderation analyses provided no evidence that birth weight effects are exacerbated by social conditions. Overall, the pattern of findings painted a complex picture of disadvantage, beginning in the womb and presumably via educational attainment, extending over the life course. [Copyright (c) Elsevier]

Copyright of Social Science Research is the property of Academic Press Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bibliography Citation

Cheadle, Jacob E. and Bridget J. Goosby. "Birth Weight, Cognitive Development, and Life Chances: A Comparison of Siblings from Childhood into Early Adulthood." Social Science Research 39,4 (July 2010): 570-584.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth at two points in time, we examine the relationship between maternal psychological distress and perceived neighborhood disorder for three groups: African Americans, Mexican Americans and whites. Findings show that across all racial groups neighborhood perceptions are more salient in shaping levels of distress than is objective neighborhood location. However, objective location (e.g., central city residence) does considerably influence how mothers perceive their neighborhoods in the first place. These results suggest that future research on the independent consequences of the neighborhood context should incorporate both subjective assessments and objective indicators of living arrangements. We also observe that perceived neighborhood disorder and psychological distress are affected by marital status, educational attainment, household income, and employment. Moreover, compared to their Mexican American and white counterparts, family structure (e.g., number of children) appears to be more detrimental in shaping outcomes for African American mothers. [Copyright 2003 Elsevier]

The focus of recent stratification research demonstrates increasing recognition of the structured nature of social inequality. Among the forms these efforts have taken has been the development of a number of models drawing attention to the importance of various labor market divisions or cleavages. The crucial role which restricted labor mobility must play in maintaining these cleavages, while largely untested, has long been recognized. The authors argue that analysis of the patterns of job sequencing can be used to draw important inferences regarding the existence and character of labor market structures. From this premise, job transition data are used to test a number of propositions derived from dual economy theory, relating to the extent of intersectoral moves and the patterns of intersectoral and intrasectoral moves. Using log-linear methods, it was found that the hypothesized evidence of restricted intersectoral job shifts and patterns of intrasectoral moves were indicative of the pervasiveness of rigidly structured internal labor markets in the core. While these results are consistent with a dualistic interpretation, they are equally as consistent with any model emphasizing the existence of strong intra- firm and intra-industry job structures.

Bibliography Citation

D'Amico, Ronald and Timothy Brown. "Patterns of Labor Mobility in a Dual Economy: The Case of Semi-skilled and Unskilled Workers." Social Science Research 11,2 (June 1982): 153-175.

The relationship between workplace organization and socioeconomic attainments of workers, although an issue of some currency in contemporary stratification research, is complex and as yet not well understood. In contrast to dual economic theory, this paper attempts to sort out the separate effects of various components of the social organization of production (e.g., profitability, capital intensity, market power, unionization) on job rewards. Moreover, various considerations suggest that these structural effects vary with business cycle activity. Accordingly, one of the research aims is to examine the extent to which various dimensions of organizational structure serve to differentially insulate workers from wage stagnation as economic conditions deteriorate. Finally, because firms may devise different institutional responses to declining product demand, these structural effects on both wage rates and unemployment propensities are examined.

Bibliography Citation

D'Amico, Ronald and Thomas N. Daymont. "Industrial Organization, Economic Conditions, and the Labor Market Success of Young Men: An Overview and Extension." Social Science Research 11,3 (September 1982): 201-226.

This paper updates and extends research examining the origins of adolescent beliefs about gender. Although previous research noted the importance of maternal attitudes on adolescent beliefs, more recent attempts to model adolescent and young adult gender ideology have been limited in the kinds of intergenerational models tested. Using latent curve modeling and recent survey data from children of a nationally representative sample of women in the United States, I demonstrate that current family context is the most crucial component of adolescent and young adult gender ideology. Egalitarian mothers are more likely to have egalitarian children, although maternal ideologies have little effect on ideology change over time. Young women are more egalitarian than are young men, and this difference diminishes over time. As adolescents age, current life experiences are better predictors of gender ideology than are characteristics of family of origin. There is little evidence that the recent historical trends toward more egalitarian gender ideologies have abated.

This study examines two issues concerning a dual economy theory of labor markets. First, the economic sectors are analyzed for the degree to which differences in rates of pay are accounted for by sector differences in: human capital composition, unionization, occupational skill requirements and other factors producing an ability and willingness to pay high wages. The primary factors that produce a pay premium in the monopoly sector are its willingness to pay high wages and its higher levels of unionization. Second, the results of a decomposition by race show that contrary to prior research, blacks are found to be relatively more disadvantaged in the competitive sector.

Despite the recent growth of for-profit colleges, scholars are only beginning to understand the labor market consequences of attending these institutions. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find that for-profit associate's degree holders encounter lower hourly earnings than associate's degree holders educated at public or private, nonprofit colleges, and earnings that are not significantly different than high school graduates. However, individuals who complete a bachelor's degree by attending college in either the for-profit or nonprofit sectors encounter positive returns. These findings, robust to model selection, suggest that the distinction between for-profit and nonprofit colleges constitutes an important axis in the horizontal dimension of education at the sub-baccalaureate level, and complicate notions of vertical stratification such that higher levels of educational attainment do not necessarily guarantee a wage premium.

Today's college students travel increasingly heterogeneous pathways through their postsecondary education by delaying the transition from high school to college, attending part-time, and enrolling in multiple institutions. Variation in how students move through college is important to concerns about stratification since non-normative pathways are disproportionately distributed among student subgroups and can have negative consequences for degree attainment and other later-in-life outcomes. In this article, I capitalize on detailed postsecondary transcript data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to infer group-based developmental trajectories of students' college credit completion over the first ten years since leaving high school. These trajectories offer a more comprehensive understanding of students' long-term pathways of college credit completion in life course perspective, the role played by students' socioeconomic and prior academic backgrounds in allocating them to those pathways, and how transitions to other adult social roles (spouse, parent, and worker) differentially shape those pathways.

Young adults at the turn of the 21st century came of age in a time of unprecedented access to credit but slowed growth in earnings, resulting in a dramatic increase in indebtedness. Debt has been little studied by sociologists, even though it is increasingly important in financing both attainment and a middle-class lifestyle, especially for youth in the transition to adulthood. We study the consequences of indebtedness for young adults’ sense of mastery and self-esteem as stratified by class. Young adulthood is a crucial developmental period for mastery and self-esteem, which then serve as a social psychological resource (or deficit) into the adult years. Research suggests that young people have divergent perspectives on debt: some focus on credit as a necessary investment in status attainment, while others worry that readily available credit invites improvidence that can erode the self-concept as debt encumbers achievement and future consumption and increases a sense of powerlessness. We find that both education and credit-card debt increase mastery and self-esteem, supporting the hypothesis that young people experience debt as an investment in the future, and contradicting the expectation that debt used to finance current spending will lower mastery and self-esteem. Our expectation that debt effects are accentuated for those of lower- and middle-class origins but blunted for those of upper-class origins is supported. We find, however, that the positive effects of debt appear to wane among the oldest young adults, suggesting the stresses of debt may mount with age. We conclude that further study of the long-term consequences of debt will be essential for advancing contemporary stratification theory and research.

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of individual resources and occupational labor market characteristics on the wages of young women. Findings indicated that both individual- and occupational-level factors have significant effects on the wage attainment process, with young women's wages being determined partly by their own human capital but also by characteristics of their occupations. Mothers tend to be paid less than non-mothers, but the negative effect on wages of being a mother holds for non-black women only. These results are employed to inform theory concerning the effects of market relative to human capital characteristics on wages and to comprehend how young, non-black mothers are at a particular disadvantage in the wage attainment process.

Bibliography Citation

Elliott, Marta E. and Toby L. Parcel. "The Determinants of Young Women's Wages: Comparing the Effects of Individual and Occupational Labor Market Characteristics." Social Science Research 25,3 (September 1996): 240-259.

We use longitudinal data for a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth to study intergenerational and intragenerational influences on the gender-role attitudes of young women and men. We find that during the period between 1979 and 1987 young women had more egalitarian attitudes than young men but that the gender-role attitudes of both sexes were similarly influenced by family background. Although there was considerable stability in gender-role attitudes during the transition to adulthood, both sexes experienced change in an egalitarian direction with age. Young men experienced more change than young women, making their attitudes more similar to those of young women over time. Gender-role attitudes were also influenced by particular experiences and role changes during the transition to adulthood, including the continuation of education, movement into and out of the labor force, entry into marriage, and becoming a parent.

Bibliography Citation

Fan, Pi-Ling and Margaret Mooney Marini. "Influences on Gender-Role Attitudes during the Transition to Adulthood." Social Science Research 29,2 (June 2000): 258-283.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 31, 2001.

Data from the Children of the NLSY79 (CNLSY) are pooled together across survey waves, 1986-2000, to provide an unusually large sample size, as well as two or more observations at different time points for many children, recorded at single months of age between 36 and 156 months. We fit a variety of multilevel growth models to these data. We find that by 36 months of age, large net social class and Black-White vocabulary knowledge gaps have already emerged. By 60 months of age, when kindergarten typically begins, the Black-White vocabulary gap approximates the level it maintains through to 13 years of age. Net social class differences are also large at 36 months. For whites, these cease widening thereafter. For Blacks, they widen until 60 months of age, and then cease widening. We view these vocabulary differences as achieved outcomes, and find that they are only very partially explained by measures of the mother's vocabulary knowledge and home cognitive support. We conclude that stratification studies as well as program interventions should focus increased effort on caregiver behaviors that stimulate oral language development from birth through age three, when class and race gaps in vocabulary knowledge emerge and take on values close to their final forms. [Copyright 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.]

Bibliography Citation

Farkas, George and Kurt Beron. "The Detailed Age Trajectory of Oral Vocabulary Knowledge: Differences by Class and Race." Social Science Research 33,3 (September 2004): 464-497.

Research on the causal relationship between women's fertility and their employment patterns has yielded contradictory findings. In order to shed some light on the confusion that has resulted, hazard models are used to investigate the possibility these two variables are dynamically interdependent. Transition rates among combined states of pregnancy and fertility are analyzed for a data set consisting of joint work and fertility event histories for a national sample of young white and black women. The results lend support to the interdependence thesis. Pregnancy and motherhood increase the rate at which women leave employment and decrease their reentry rate. Furthermore, this study finds that women's wages, and for white women, employment status as well, are negatively and significantly related to their rate of becoming pregnant.

Research on sex differences in occupational attainment suggests that working men and working women attain essentially the same mean level of occupational attainment and do so through quite similar processes. A possible explanation for these similarities is that the sample of working women contains an overrepresentation of successful women, since women who can afford not to work will stay out of the labor force unless they find a job commensurate with their education. This is defined as a censoring problem. By extending a technique developed by Heckman, the authors estimate the structural parameters for all women regardless of current employment status. This procedure allows assessment of the impact of the censoring problem on women's occupational attainment equations.

Bibliography Citation

Fligstein, Neil and Wendy Wolf. "Sex Similarities in Occupational Status Attainment: Are the Results Due to the Restriction of the Sample to Employed Women?" Social Science Research 7,2 (June 1978): 197-212.

Part of the motherhood wage penalty results from mothers' loss of work experience, yet little research has investigated whether this loss is temporary or accumulates over time. Using growth curve models and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1979), I examine the extent to which motherhood reduces work experience over the life course among White, Black, and Hispanic women. Results indicate that motherhood slows the accretion of experience in full-time work for all racial-ethnic groups, having an enduring effect on women's employment. The effect is stronger among Whites and mothers with two or more children, remaining sizeable as women approach retirement age. By age 50, White and Hispanic mothers with two or more children exhibit between two to seven fewer years of experience in full-time employment. Among Blacks, only mothers with three or more children experience a significant reduction, averaging five fewer years of experience in full-time work.

Adolescents who experience changes in parents’ union status are more likely than adolescents in stable family structures to engage in problem behavior. We ask whether the link between family structure transitions and problem behavior in adolescence may be explained in part by the residential and school mobility that co-occur with family structure change. Our analysis uses nationally-representative data from a two-generation study to assess the relative effects of family instability and mobility on the self-reported problem behavior of adolescents who were 12–17 years old in 2006. Residential and school mobility only minimally attenuate the association of family structure changes with behavior problems for younger girls and older adolescents. Exposure to peer pressure has a larger attenuating effect. We conclude that although mobility often co-occurs with family structure change, it has independent effects on problem behavior.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the NLSY97 Early Results Conference sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Joint Center for Poverty Research held November 18?19, 1999, in Washington, DC.

The decision for adolescents and young adults to leave their parents and their home community is complex and difficult. This study of youth migration focuses on the geographical location to which urban and rural youth relocate upon exiting their parental household. Little is known about destination choices of youth, especially how they differ for youth from urban and rural areas. A multinomial logit model of migration destination choices that incorporates individual, household, and community level factors is estimated with data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Results indicate that while the local economy and labor market are important to the migration decision, the magnitudes of these effects are generally small. Noneconomic individual, household, and community factors play an important role in the migration process, as well. The magnitudes of noneconomic factor effects generally are greater for rural youth compared to urban youth. Copyright: 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Bibliography Citation

Garasky, Steven. "Where Are They Going? A Comparison of Urban and Rural youths? Locational Choices After Leaving the Parental Home." Social Science Research 31,3 (September 2002): 409-431.

Over the past half century, a large body of theoretical and empirical work in sociology and other social sciences has emphasized the negative consequences of mobility for human development in general, and youth outcomes in particular. In criminology, decades of research have documented a link between residential mobility and crime at both the macro and micro levels. At the micro level, mobility is associated with delinquency, substance use, and other deviant behaviors among adolescents. However, it is possible that the relationship between mobility and delinquency may be due to selection on pre-existing differences between mobile and non-mobile youth in their propensity for delinquency, and prior studies have not adequately addressed this issue. Specifically, the families that are most likely to move are also the most disadvantaged and may be characterized by dynamics and processes that are conducive to the development of delinquency and problem behavior in their children. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to assess the impact of residential and school mobility between the ages of 12 and 17 on delinquency and substance use. Random effects models control for selection on both observed and unobserved differences. Results show that mobility and delinquency are indeed spuriously related. Implications for future research on mobility and outcomes are discussed. [Copyright c Elsevier]

Copyright of Social Science Research is the property of Academic Press Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bibliography Citation

Gasper, Joseph Michael, Stefanie Deluca and Angela Estacion. "Coming and Going: Explaining the Effects of Residential and School Mobility on Adolescent Delinquency." Social Science Research 39,3 (May 2010): 459-476.

The social stratification that takes place during the transition out of high school is traditionally explained with theoretical frameworks such as status attainment and social reproduction. In our paper, we suggest the cumulative dis/advantage hypothesis as an alternative theoretical and empirical approach that explains this divergence in institutional pathways as the result of the dynamic interplay between social institutions (in our case, schools) and individuals’ resources.

We use data from the NLSY79 in order to compute institutional pathways (defined by educational and occupational status) of 9200 high school graduates. Optimal Matching Analysis and Cluster Analysis generated a typology of life course pathways. Our results show that both ascribed characteristics and students’ high school characteristics and resources are predictors of post-high school pathways.

This study builds on and extends previous research on nativity variations in adolescent health and risk behavior by addressing three questions: (1) whether and how generational status and age at migration are associated with timing of sexual onset among U.S. adolescents; (2) whether and how family instability mediates associations between nativity and sexual debut; and (3) whether and how these associations vary by gender. We find that first- and second-generation immigrant youth initiate sexual activity later than native youth. Foreign-born youth who migrate after the start of adolescence exhibit the latest sexual onset; boys' sexual behavior is particularly sensitive to age at migration. Parental union stability is protective for first- and second-generation youth, especially boys; however, instability in co-residence with parents accelerates sexual debut for foreign-born girls, and dilutes protections from parental marital stability. Use of a non-English language at home delays sexual onset for immigrant girls, but not boys.

Since the 1970s, criminal justice contact has become an increasingly common event in early adulthood, and disproportionately so for African American men. Policymakers often argue that reducing drug-related conviction rates is among the easiest ways to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in incarceration. These arguments are often backed by statistics that convey the number of drug offenders in contact with the criminal justice system at a given point in time. Unfortunately, we know little about the extent to which over-time conviction risk and associated racial/ethnic disparities may be affected by drug-related policy changes. Using a novel application of the single decrement life table to analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), I present a quantitative thought experiment to consider the extent to which the elimination of drug-related offenses would affect racial/ethnic disparities in men's cumulative probability of conviction by age 30. Consistent with prior research, results indicate that black men are at disproportionately higher risk of ever experiencing a drug-related conviction, and of experiencing a drug-related conviction at each conviction instance. More surprising, however, is the finding that while the removal of drug sentencing may significantly impact racial/ethnic disparities associated with conviction, only a relatively small proportion of those ever convicted would avoid conviction altogether in the absence of drug-related sentencing.

In view of the increasing number of female-headed families and the importance of external support for them from private and public sources, a one-decision model is proposed to examine the determinants of kin and welfare support. Data on single mothers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth reveal: (1) greater kin economic resources substitute for public aid, (2) intact parents discourage their daughters' participation in aid, (3) government aid crowds out kin contributions to their daughters and grandchildren, (4) higher wage rates of single mothers and larger amount of child support promote leaving welfare programs, and (5) single mothers with higher income resources still demand kin support. 5 Tables, 1 Appendix, 50 References. Adapted with permission from Academic Press. (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.)

This article draws upon theories of the life course and child development to examine how structural changes in the family and parenting practices affect child behavior problems in middle childhood. Our analysis improves upon prior research by simultaneously examining the effects of poverty, single-motherhood, welfare, and kin co-residence, distinguishing between early and current exposure to changes of these family conditions, and controlling for unobserved, preexisting family differences. We estimate fixed-effects sibling models using the matched mother–child data of NLSY79. We find two robust relationships: child behavior problems are shaped by early childhood poverty, which is not mediated by current parenting nor contaminated by family selection, and mothers' use of physical punishment, which is not contaminated by family selection. The findings support the early childhood exposure hypothesis applied to poverty, a parenting hypothesis applied to mother's physical punishment, and a family selection hypothesis applied to positive parenting, father's time, and cultural activities.

Do unmet occupational goals have negative consequences for well-being? Several social-psychological theories posit that aspirations become standards against which individuals judge themselves, thereby decreasing well-being when unmet. Yet other evidence points to young adults’ goal flexibility and resilience, suggesting unmet aspirations may not affect well-being. This paper tests these alternatives using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (N=9,016) and the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (N=10,547) to examine whether the degree of match between adolescent occupational aspirations (NLSY) and expectations (NELS) and later attainment affect job satisfaction and depression. This paper also examines gender differences in the cost to unmet goals. Findings reveal a cost to falling short of one’s occupational goals, manifested in more depressive symptoms for men in the older cohort, and lower job satisfaction for both men and women across two cohorts born approximately 14 years apart.

Bibliography Citation

Hardie, Jessica H. "The Consequences of Unrealized Occupational Goals in the Transition to Adulthood." Social Science Research 48 (November 2014): 196-211.

The permeability of the work/retirement boundary is examined by investigating the labor force reentry process among a group of male retirees. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men, hazards models are estimated to identify the determinants of postretirement work. Reentry is distinguished according to part-time and full-time work to capture potentially important sources of diversity. The results show that reentry occurs quickly--typically within the first year or two after a labor force exit. Despite career interruption, several work career factors significantly alter the overall chances of reentry. Comparing reentry determinants of full-time versus part-time work suggests that postretirement, part-time work is a distinct state referencing partial retirement; it is not a middle ground on a continuum between career work and complete retirement. In addition, characteristics positively linked to an initial early retirement negatively affect reentry into full-time (although not part-time) work. The determinants governing moves into and out of the labor force, and into and out of partial retirement are quite different. Overall, the results demonstrate that the transition from work to retirement is neither uniform nor irreversible.

Bibliography Citation

Hayward, Mark D., Melissa A. Hardy and Mei-Chun Liu. "Work After Retirement: The Experiences of Older Men in the United States." Social Science Research 23,1 (March 1994): 82-107.

We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to characterize siblings of middle class and poor blacks and whites, testing for racial differences in the probability of having a sibling on the other side of the socioeconomic divide. In support of theories in the urban poverty literature about the social isolation of poor blacks, we find that poor African-Americans are less likely to have a middle class sibling than poor whites, controlling for individual and family background factors. For the middle class, being black is positively correlated with the probability of having a poor sibling, challenging the notion that the black middle class is separated from the black poor, but supporting recent research on black middle class fragility. Overall, we find that African-Americans are less likely than whites to have siblings that cross important social class lines in ways that are beneficial. Racial differences in the composition of kin networks may indicate another dimension of racial stratification.

Race differences in "middle class" lifestyle are examined by home ownership and net worth. The major findings are: (1) whites at any earnings level are very likely to own homes by ages 50-64; however, only at relatively high earning levels do blacks begin to approach the home ownership rates of whites; (2) the net worth of blacks is substantially lower than that of whites after adjusting for variables in a standard status attainment model; and (3) the race difference, as well as other variables effects, is much smaller for home owners than for renters. The reason for this is probably forced saving through home ownership.

Bibliography Citation

Henretta, John C. "Race Differences in Middle Class Lifestyle: The Role of Home Ownership." Social Science Research 8,1 (March 1979): 63-78.

Children with Disabilities and Trajectories of Parents' Unsecured Debt Across the Life Course
Social Science Research 64 (May 2017): 184-196.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X15301964
Cohort(s):
Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher:
ElsevierKeyword(s):
Child Health, Limiting Condition(s); Debt/Borrowing; Disability; Life Course; Parenthood

Prior research shows that having a child with a disability is economically burdensome for parents but we know little about whether this burden extends to unsecured debt. In this study, we examine the link between having a child with a disability that manifests between birth and age 4 and subsequent trajectories in unsecured household debt. We have three key findings. First, we find that having a child with an early-life disabling health condition is associated with a substantial increase in indebtedness in the years immediately following the child's birth, and that this association persists net of a range of potential confounders. Second, we find that parents do not quickly repay this debt, such that parents of a child with a disabling health condition have different trajectories of unsecured debt across the life course than do parents of children without a disabling health condition. Third, we find that the association between early-life child disability and debt is stronger for more severe conditions, such as those that require ongoing medical treatment. The results of this study are informative for understanding an important aspect of economic functioning--indebtedness--for parents of children with disabilities, as well as the causes and correlates of rising unsecured debt in the U.S.

Bibliography Citation

Houle, Jason N. and Lawrence Marc Berger. "Children with Disabilities and Trajectories of Parents' Unsecured Debt Across the Life Course." Social Science Research 64 (May 2017): 184-196.

Is there increasing cognitive partitioning by occupation over time? Herrnstein and Murray's The Bell Curve strongly suggests such a trend. Herrnstein and Murray specify 12 occupations as "high-IQ professions." They argue that as jobs in these occupations increase over time, more people with high IQs are drawn to these occupations. Thus, there is a growing concentration of the cognitive elite in high-IQ occupations and increasing cognitive partitioning by occupation. However, I find Herrnstein and Murray's analysis problematic due to lack of evidence and misinterpretation of data. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, I rank occupations by incumbents' mean IQ and demonstrate that Herrnstein and Murray overestimate the rankings of some high-IQ occupations, the mean IQ level of persons in high-IQ occupations, and the percentage of high-IQ persons engaged in high-IQ occupations. In addition, using data from the General Social Survey, 1974-1998, I find no evidence that cognitive partitioning by occupation has increased over time. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

I examine variation in trajectories of women's marital quality across the life course. The analysis improves upon earlier research in three ways: (1) the analysis uses a sequential cohort design and data from the first 35 years of marriage; (2) I analyze rich data from a national sample; (3) I examine multiple dimensions of marital quality. Latent class growth analyses estimated on data from women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-1979 (N = 2604) suggest multiple trajectories for each of three dimensions of marital quality, including two trajectories of marital happiness, two trajectories of marital communication, and three trajectories of marital conflict. Socioeconomic and demographic covariates are then used to illustrate how factors such as income, cohabitation, and race-ethnicity set individuals at risk of poor marital quality throughout the life course by differentiating between high and low trajectories of marital quality. Women on low marital quality trajectories are, as expected, at much greater risk of divorce. Taken together, these findings show how fundamental socioeconomic and demographic characteristics contribute to subsequent marital outcomes via their influence on trajectories of marital quality as well as providing a better picture of the complexity in contemporary patterns of marital quality.

A significant portion of teens work while in school and the consequences of that work are of potential concern to society. While there is widespread support for combining work and school, and some evidence that employment has positive effects on youth development, previous research has revealed some potentially harmful consequences of employment among teens. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between teen employment and substance use. We extended this literature by studying two different cohorts of youth, and by exploiting arguably exogenous variation in youth employment and earnings caused by changes in minimum wages and the business cycle (unemployment). Estimates suggest that hours of work are positively associated with alcohol and cigarette use. However, if selection on unobserved variables were equal to selection on observed variables, these associations would be close to zero. With respect to the association between earnings and substance use, the evidence is less clear.

This paper elaborates a model for the outcomes of job sequences and illustrates its utility by an empirical analysis of the determinants of wage change for men in their late careers. We argue that job sequences represent the basic components of careers and that a focus on these sequences is useful for explaining the determinants of socioeconomic inequality over the life cycle. Our model permits us to estimate the effects on wage change of a wide array of personal resources and measures of the opportunity structure. We further assess how these types of factors differentially affect wage change for various patterns of labor market behavior and for blacks vs. whites. Our empirical analysis of data from the NLS of Older Men suggests the importance of patterns of job sequences for wage change and for the explanation of racial differentials in career advancement.

Bibliography Citation

Kalleberg, Arne L. and Paula M. Hudis. "Wage Change in the Late Career: A Model for the Outcomes of Job Sequences." Social Science Research 8,1 (March 1979): 16-40.

Stratification research shows that occupational origins and destinations are weakly associated among individuals holding a college degree. The finding is taken to support the hypothesis that college equalizes opportunities and promotes social mobility. I test the competing hypothesis that the high level of social mobility reported for college degree holders results from the selectivity of this group. To control for selectivity, I reweigh a sample of college degree holders by the inverse probability of being a college degree holder conditional on observable characteristics of students before they enter college, including characteristics such as cognitive ability, personality traits, and beliefs about the future. Analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979), I find no support for the selectivity hypothesis. These findings align with evidence based on indirect tests of the hypothesis, and indicate that college indeed appears to be an equalizer.

Alongside the rise of emerging adulthood, policy contexts for marijuana have rapidly changed, with increases in availability and the number of daily users. We identify heterogeneous pathways of marijuana use from age 16 to 26, and examine how these pathways differentiate adult role transitions by age 28. Latent class analyses identified five trajectories: abstainers, dabblers, consistent users, early heavy quitters, and persistent heavy users. Dabblers are no different from abstainers on educational and labor market outcomes, and both have higher odds of adult role transitions relative to heavier use classes. Dabblers differ from abstainers on certain family transitions, yet remain distinct from the heavier use classes. Besides parenthood, early heavy quitters and persistent heavy users are similar, suggesting that heavy use is particularly detrimental early during transitions to adulthood. Distinct trajectories of marijuana use may differentiate young people into divergent pathways of transitions to adulthood, which may have long-term implications.

Bibliography Citation

Kelly, Brian and Mike Vuolo. "Trajectories of Marijuana Use and the Transition to Adulthood." Social Science Research 73 (July 2018): 175-188.

Although the relationship between motherhood and women's labor market exits has received a great deal of popular and empirical attention in recent years, far less is known about the relationship between motherhood and women's job changes. In this paper, I use panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979) (NLSY79) and Cox regression models to examine how motherhood influences the types of job changes and employment exits women make and how this varies by racial-ethnic group. I find preschool-age children are largely immobilizing for white women, as they discourage these women from making the types of voluntary job changes that are often associated with wage growth. No such effects were found for Black or Hispanic women.

Limited research has examined how family environments are associated with the relationship context of first sex, an important indicator of reproductive health risk. We use data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to assess the association between the family environment – parent-parent relationships, parent-adolescent relationships, and family structure - and relationship context of first heterosexual sexual intercourse, distinguishing between the transition to first sex in serious and casual relationships. Twenty-five percent of females and 43 percent of males who had sex by age 18 did so in a casual relationship. All dimensions of the family environment were linked to the relationship context of first sex. Notably, higher parental monitoring was associated with a reduced risk of transitioning to first sex in a casual relationship versus no sex, and greater family routines were associated with a reduced risk of transitioning to sex in a steady relationship versus having no sex, for males and females. A strong maternal-adolescent relationship was associated with a reduced risk of first sex in a casual relationship but only for males. Additionally, in two-parent families, a strong father-adolescent relationship was associated with reduced risk of transitioning to casual sex, but only for females. Pregnancy and STI prevention programs should work with parents to foster positive parent-adolescent relationships, to become aware of their adolescents’ activities and to recognize that parents are important models for adolescent relationship behaviors.

We examine the relationship between incarceration and premature mortality for men and women. Analyses using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) reveal strong gender differences. Using two different analytic procedures the results show that women with a history of incarceration are more likely to die than women without such a history, even after controlling for health status and criminal behavior prior to incarceration, the availability of health insurance, and other socio-demographic factors. In contrast, there is no relationship between incarceration and mortality for men after accounting for these factors. The results point to the importance of examining gender differences in the collateral consequences of incarceration. The results also contribute to a rapidly emerging literature linking incarceration to various health hazards. Although men constitute the bulk of inmates, future research should not neglect the special circumstances of female former inmates and their rapidly growing numbers.

This study makes three critical contributions to the "Do Contacts Matter?" debate. First, the widely reported null relationship between informal job searching and wages is shown to be mostly the artifact of a coding error and sample selection restrictions. Second, previous analyses examined only active informal job searching without fully considering the benefits derived from unsolicited network assistance (the "invisible hand of social capital") -- thereby underestimating the network effect. Third, wage returns to networks are examined across the earnings distribution. Longitudinal data from the NLSY reveal significant wage returns for network-based job finding over formal job searching, especially for individuals who were informally recruited into their jobs (non-searchers). Fixed effects quantile regression analyses show that contacts generate wage premiums among middle and high wage jobs, but not low wage jobs. These findings challenge conventional wisdom on contact effects and advance understanding of how social networks affect wage attainment and inequality.

While work experience is generally seen as an indicator of human capital, it may also reflect the accumulation of social capital. This study examines how work experience facilitates informal access to employment—that is, being matched with a new employer through an informal search or informal recruitment through the non-search process (without engaging in a job search). Results from fixed effects regression on panel data from the NLSY show that experience is related to informal entry into new jobs, though in a very specific way. The odds of being informally recruited into a new job improve as work experience in related occupations rises, but this relationship holds only among men. These findings highlight the social benefits of occupation-specific work experience that accrue to men but not to women, suggesting an alternative explanation for the gender disparity in wage returns to experience.

Bibliography Citation

McDonald, Steve. "What You Know or Who You Know? Occupation-Specific Work Experience and Job Matching Through Social Networks ." Social Science Research 40,6 (November 2011): 1664-1675.

This study employed latent class analysis to create children’s family structure trajectories from birth through adolescence using merged mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 1870). Input variables distinguished between biological fathers and stepfathers as well as mother’s marriages and cohabitations. The best-fitting model revealed five latent trajectories of children’s long-term family structure: continuously married biological parents (55%), long-term single mothers (18%), married biological parents who divorce (12%), a highly unstable trajectory distinguished by gaining at least one stepfather (11%), and cohabiting biological parents who either marry or break up (4%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that mother’s education, race, teen birth status, and family of origin characteristics were important predictors of the long-term family trajectories in which their children grew up. These findings suggest that latent class analysis is a valuable statistical tool for understanding children’s complete family structure experiences.

In recent years we have learned a great deal about how families influence child outcomes in the United States (U.S.). We know that family social capital is important in promoting both child cognition and social adjustment (Dufur et al., 2013 and Dufur et al., 2008); that fathers play a vital role in promoting child well-being (Coltrane, 1996 and Marsiglio and Roy, 2012); and that marital disruption can be detrimental to child and adolescent development (Amato, 2010 and Kim, 2011). We know much less, however, about whether these same findings hold in countries outside the U.S., and whether similar processes are at work cross-culturally.

We address this deficit by studying the determinants of children's cognition in both the U.S. and Great Britain (G.B.). Classic sociological findings suggest that child cognition is important because it predicts school success, an important precursor of placement in western stratification systems (Crouse et al., 1979). Lower levels of cognition, even among younger children, are associated with subsequent reduced high school graduation rates, lower probabilities of college enrollment and lower levels of academic achievement (Jencks, 1979 and Sewell and Hauser, 1975). Thus, children's cognition has implications for long-term socioeconomic success.

Bibliography Citation

Parcel, Toby L. and Lori A. Campbell. "Can the Welfare State Replace Parents? Children's Cognition in the United States and Great Britain." Social Science Research (1 November 2016): DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.10.009.

Using the 1979-1994 waves of the NLSY-79 data, this study investigates racial/ethnic differences in the rates of voluntary and involuntary job mobility among young men. We find that there is no significant difference among racial/ethnic groups in the likelihood of voluntary job changing. However, blacks do suffer from job instability in that their likelihood of leaving jobs involuntarily is much higher than that of whites or Hispanics. Within the Hispanic population, Mexicans are more likely to experience involuntary job separation compared to whites, though they are not as likely to do so as are blacks. The results confirm the importance of separately analyzing the mechanisms and processes of voluntary and involuntary mobility in order to understand better the disadvantages of some groups in career development.

In recent years, researchers have begun to explore the extent to which the impact of switching firms (inter-firm mobility) on wages varies between men and women. Using data from the NLSY79 from 1979 to 2012, this paper extends existing research by exploring how occupational segregation and individual level factors contribute to gender differences in the impact of voluntary inter-firm mobility on wages. The paper also examines how patterns vary depending on education level. Findings suggest that men without a college education receive greater wage gains from voluntary inter-firm mobility than similarly educated women although there is no overall gender difference for individuals with a bachelor' degree. The wage returns to voluntary inter-firm mobility for both men and women increase as a function of the male representation in the occupation. For individuals without a college education, the male premium to voluntary inter-firm mobility is largest in highly male dominated occupations. However, women with a bachelor's degree employed in highly male dominated occupations use voluntary inter-firm mobility to narrow the gender wage gap.

Bibliography Citation

Pearlman, Jessica Anne. "Gender Differences in the Impact of Job Mobility on Earnings: The Role of Occupational Segregation." Social Science Research 74 (August 2018): 30-44.

Data from the 1979-1985 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to examine the effect of residing in a nonintact family during adolescence on the probability of experiencing a teen birth and on the timing of first premarital births. Models are developed to account for possible unmeasured common factors that jointly affect family structure and early family formation. The results confirm previous research findings that, after controlling for various socio-demographic factors, living in a nonintact family at age 14 increases the likelihood of becoming a teen parent and lowers the expected age of experiencing an out-of-wedlock birth. Using differing assumptions about the process-generating nonintact family structure and early family-formation outcomes, we find no evidence of the endogeneity of family structure. However, in the absence of prior information, the effect of family structure on early adult outcomes cannot be identified. As such, estimates of family-structure effects depend on the assumptions researchers make about the processes affecting family structure and early family formation. 01993

Bibliography Citation

Powers, Daniel A. "Alternative Models of the Effects of Family Structure on Early Family Formation." Social Science Research 22,3 (September 1993): 283-299.

This paper assesses the effects of family structure on the risk of a first premarital birth for a sample of women from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The sample reflects the family structure and family formation experiences of a cohort of women who were at risk of out-of-wedlock childbearing during the 1980s and early 1990s. We focus on assessing the effects of family structure in the presence of correlated unmeasured family effects, which are identified through the use of sibling data. The availability of multiple sibling respondents per family permits identification of family-level unobserved heterogeneity in a multi-level context of individuals nested within families. Our models account for family-specific sources of unobserved heterogeneity in the processes generating family structure and nonmarital childbearing, and provide estimates of the association between these sources of unobserved heterogeneity along with the effects of family structure and other covariates. We find that accounting for the correlation between unobserved family-level effects in processes generating family structure and first premarital birth leads to attenuated estimates of the effects family structure on the risk of first premarital birth. This suggests that other family-level factors may play a mediating role in generating both family structure and nonmarital childbearing.

Bibliography Citation

Powers, Daniel A. "Effects of Family Structure on the Risk of First Premarital Birth in the Presence of Correlated Unmeasured Family Effects." Social Science Research 34,3 (September 2005): 511-537. Als: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X04000420.

Uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to assess racial and ethnic differences in the determinants of entering inactivity for 1,731 initially active young men. Findings indicate that social context variables play a moderate role in explaining weak labor force attachment among nonwhite youth, but are relatively less important for White youth. On the other hand, the effects of social background characteristics are significant determinants of White youth idleness and less important for nonwhite youth, especially for Black youth. Moreover, Black-White differences in the effects of social background and social context are large and statistically significant. Local opportunity structure and individual human capital characteristics have large effects on the inactivity of youth as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Copyright 1997 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

Using data from the National Survey of Youth, proportional hazards models for clustered data are used to account for shared unobserved family-level traits (or frailty) associated with non-marital childbearing. The variance in frailty can be used to evaluate a woman's conditional hazard of a first premarital birth if one or more of her sisters were to experience a premarital birth relative to her risk if none of her sisters experience a premarital birth. I find that among non-Hispanic White women, a first premarital birth by one sister doubles our estimate of another sister's risk of a first premarital birth after controlling for observed family-level & individual-level characteristics. Significant associations exist between several socioeconomic measures & the estimated frailty among White families. For a Black woman in the NLSY, the estimate of the risk of a first premarital birth would increase by only 14% if one of her sisters were to experience a first premarital birth. Low variance in frailty among Black families may be a result of the high prevalence of non-marital births in Black communities. Whether unobserved neighborhood, community, or peer-group traits contribute more to a Black woman's risk than unobserved family-level traits remains an important question for further research. 10 Tables, 1 Appendix, 41 References. [Copyright 2001 Academic Press.]

Bibliography Citation

Powers, Daniel A. "Unobserved Family Effects on the Risk of a First Premarital Birth." Social Science Research 30,1 (March 2001): 1-24.

This paper examines the quality and comparability of child care data obtained from eight waves of data from four nationally representative data sources: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1986 and 1988), the Survey of Income and Program Participation (1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990), the National Child Care Survey, and the National Survey of Families and Households. We examine whether different study designs and survey techniques for asking questions about child care produce similar results on both the levels and determinants of child care. We identified four main sources of difference in the data sets that could impact the quality and comparability of child care research: when the interview is conducted; screening questions used to determine who is asked about child care; the population of parents and children represented in the survey; and the way child care questions are asked. Our findings indicate that summer interviews and screening on mother's work status produce the largest differences in the levels and effects of child care across these studies. Even after removing the effects of summer interviews and screening questions, however, substantial differences exist across the studies.

Sociological explanations of wage inequality have given increasing attention to resources of industries as wage determinants. The variation in the effects of individual & industrial characteristics (eg, differences in age, race, & occupation) on wage rates is explored. Data are taken from the National Longitudinal Studies of the Labor Market Experiences of Women, in which groups of younger & older women (N = 2,072 & 2,054, respectively) were interviewed periodically over a 12-year interval. Considerable variation in the effects of industrial & worker resources on women's wage rates is evident. It appears, however, that both types of resources must be examined to avoid misspecification of wage determination models.

This paper examines the effects of family structure on educational attainment after controlling for common family influences, observed and unobserved, using data from siblings. The use of sibling data permits us to examine whether the apparent effects of family structure are due to unmeasured characteristics of families that are common to siblings. The data come from pairs of siblings in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979-1992. The results suggest that taking into account the unmeasured family characteristics yields estimates of the effects of family structure on educational attainment that are smaller, but still statistically significant, than estimates based on analyses that do not take unmeasured family influences into account. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

We utilize data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY79) to explore transitions into the labor force of young adults who received a baccalaureate degree. This was the first cohort for whom college completion was more likely among women than men (Buchman and DiPrete, 2006). Graduates also began their careers in the early 1980s, when women's job opportunities were expanding, and when considerable gains in female representation in STEM baccalaureates fields were made (Xie and Killewald, 2012). We begin by reviewing existing explanations of women's underrepresentation in STEM employment, then present our own empirical results. Our analysis extends prior research by incorporating indicators of young adult's values, expectations, and intentions. We use regression decomposition techniques to investigate what factors account for gender disparities in transitions into STEM employment. Our results highlight the need to better interrogate long-accepted views regarding the association between women's and men's family and work values and actual employment outcomes.

This paper examines the job mobility of young American workers in the turbulent labor market of the 1980s and 1990s. To study how structural dynamics affect job mobility, I test hypotheses on such major structural changes as industrial shifts and corporate merger movement. Event history analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 suggests that structural changes played an important role in determining job mobility outcomes. Industrial expansion decreases the rates of employment exits and between-industry mobility, both upward and downward, net of demographic and human capital variables. Mergers decrease all kinds of job mobility rates, including employment exits and directional moves. This paper demonstrates that research in job mobility, industrial restructuring, and labor market inequality should be integrated in studying the connection between structural changes and individual behaviors. [Copyright 2007 Elsevier]

Copyright of Social Science Research is the property of Academic Press Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation

Shin, Taek-Jin. "The Impact of Structural Dynamics on Job Mobility Rates in the United States." Social Science Research 36,4 (December 2007): 1301-1327.

Building on research showing that the incidence of late or nontraditional entry into higher education is influenced by both individuals' needs and resources, we examine possible gender differences in its pattern. Our event history analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data shows the importance of employment-and family-related factors in illuminating gender differences and similarities in the correlates of nontraditional college enrollment. Specifically, work experience is significantly and negatively associated with men's nontraditional college entry, while no comparable effect of experience exists for women. Divorce promotes only women's nontraditional enrollment, and the gender difference in this effect is significant in case of entry into four-year institutions. The presence of preschoolers adversely affects women's attendance at two-and four-year institutions and men's attendance at four-year institutions. However, mothers of older children, unlike fathers, are more likely to experience nontraditional entry, while their educational destinations are limited to two-year institutions.

[Copyright 2007 Elsevier] Copyright of Social Science Research is the property of Academic Press Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)

Bibliography Citation

Taniguchi, Hiromi and Gayle Kaufman. "Belated Entry: Gender Differences and Similarities in the Pattern of Nontraditional College Enrollment." Social Science Research 36,2 (June 2007): 550-568.

This study investigates the determinants of employment transition with samples from White, Black, and Hispanic women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The authors argue that one needs to take into consideration both family- and job-related factors to explain women's work patterns, and that the ways employment and home context combine to influence transitions may vary by race and ethnicity. It is found that African-American women, followed by Latinas, leave the work force more quickly than White women. These differences are due more to levels of job-related variables than to distributions of family characteristics across race/ethnic groups. On the other hand, only when they control for job-related variables do the researchers see that African Americans, followed by Hispanic women, return to paid work faster than Whites, suggesting that these women reenter employment faster than would be expected given their lower levels of previous job rewards and resources. Separate models of exits and returns by race and ethnicity show somewhat different patterns of family effects across groups, while varying effects of wages and occupational variables indicate different degrees and types of labor market disadvantage for Blacks and Latinas. (PsycINFO Database Record 2003 APA, all rights reserved)

I explore the relationship between active-duty military service and self-reported health measured at age 40. Based on selectivity, veterans of active-duty service might be expected to have better health than civilians. Using data taken from the NLSY-79, I show that this is not the case. Although veterans of reserve-duty service, and nonveterans who passed the military’s physical exam for entrance into the military report better physical health, active-duty veterans do not. The lower than expected self-reported health of active-duty veterans cannot be explained by differences on confounding variables such as income, education, and marital status. In addition, the lower physical health of these veterans cannot be explained by differences in health-related behaviors such as excessive alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and body mass index.

Bibliography Citation

Teachman, Jay D. "Are Veterans Healthier? Military Service and Health at Age 40 in the All-Volunteer Era." Social Science Research 40,1 (January 2011): 326-335.

Using data taken from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we examine the relationship between military service and contact with the criminal justice system. Drawing on the life course concept of a turning point, we show that military service does little to affect the risk of being arrested or being convicted of crimes involving violence or destructive behavior, while at the same time significantly reducing the risk of being arrested or being convicted of non-violent crimes. We find no evidence that service in a combat zone alters these relationships. Our results demonstrate how participation in a large-scale institution can serve as a turning point, altering the life course trajectories of young persons.

Bibliography Citation

Teachman, Jay D. and Lucky M. Tedrow. "Altering the Life Course: Military Service and Contact with the Criminal Justice System." Social Science Research 60 (November 2016): 74-87.

Using data taken from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth we examine the relationship between delinquency and enlistment in the military. We argue that delinquent behavior is positively related to enlistment because military service is an attractive alternative for delinquents to mark their transition to adulthood and their desistance from delinquent behavior. We also argue, however, that this relationship is not linear, with higher levels of delinquent behavior actually acting to reduce the likelihood of enlistment. We further suggest that the relationship between delinquency and enlistment is similar for men and women. We test and find support for our hypotheses using data taken from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

Bibliography Citation

Teachman, Jay D. and Lucky M. Tedrow. "Delinquent Behavior, the Transition to Adulthood, and the Likelihood of Military Enlistment." Social Science Research 45 (May 2014): 46-55.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, we examine the long-term implications of military service for men’s income. We show strong variations in the effect of military service according to race and education. We do so while considering the effect of military service on the income trajectories of men and including a series of controls for selectivity. We find that while serving in the military, young men from disadvantaged backgrounds earn more than their civilian counterparts. Upon discharge, however, the income premium associated with military service tends to dissipate, and for White veterans with at least a high school degree, an income deficit results.

Bibliography Citation

Teachman, Jay D. and Lucky M. Tedrow. "Joining Up: Did Military Service in the Early All Volunteer Era Affect Subsequent Civilian Income?" Social Science Research 36,4 (December 2007): 1447-1474.

Over 16 million men served during World War II (WWII), and we know that veterans obtained more education and earned higher incomes than did non-veterans and that these premiums were more substantial for Blacks and less educated men. However, we know very little about the reasons for such veteran premiums. Using several distinct, yet connected, theoretical traditions that have been used to link military service to subsequent outcomes--theories of the life course, the status attainment perspective, relatively new conceptualizations of social capital, economic theories of human capital, and theories of selectivity--we seek to redress this lack of understanding. We use survey data from the National Longitudinal Study of Mature Men (NLSMM) to examine the long-term effects of military service during WWII on occupational and income attainments. We find that the effects associated with being a veteran of WWII are modest and are mostly limited to less advantaged veterans, and can be largely explained by differences in human capital investment or selectivity. The one finding that cannot be explained by differences in family background, human capital investments, and selectivity is a higher hourly wage rate associated with being a Black veteran.

Regarding the methods used to examine the early maternal age-child academic outcomes relationship, the extant literature has tended to examine change using statistical analyses that fail to appreciate that individuals vary in their rates of growth. Of the one study I have been able to find that employs a true growth model to estimate this relationship, the authors only controlled for characteristics of the maternal household after family formation; confounding background factors of mothers that might select them into early childbearing, a possible source of bias, were ignored. The authors' findings nonetheless suggested an inverse relationship between early maternal age, i.e., a first birth between the ages of 13 and 17, and Canadian adolescents' mean math performance at age 10. Early maternal age was not related to the linear slope of age. To elucidate whether the early maternal age-child academic outcomes association, treated in a growth context, is consistent with this finding, the present study built on it using U.S. data and explored children's mathematics and reading trajectories from age 5 on. Its unique contribution is that it further explicitly controlled for maternal background factors and employed a three-level growth model with repeated measures of children nested within their mothers. Though the strength of the relationship varied between mean initial academic performance and mean academic growth, results confirmed that early maternal age was negatively related to children's mathematics and reading achievement, net of post-teen first birth child-specific and maternal household factors. Once maternal background factors were included, there was no statistically significant relationship between early maternal age and either children's mean initial mathematics and reading scores or their mean mathematics and reading growth.

Bibliography Citation

Torres, D. Diego. "Growth Curve Analyses of the Relationship between Early Maternal Age and Children's Mathematics and Reading Performance." Social Science Research 50 (March 2015): 343-366.

This paper demonstrates the consequences to the researcher of choosing to analyze social mobility data with a prestige scale rather than with a socioeconomic index. First, the low intergenerational correlations reported for the International Prestige Scale are rejected when they are shown to be compatible with inadequate models of the processes of status inheritance. Second, the Duncan socioeconomic index is shown to be the preferred measure of status transmission in that it suffers from less random error than does the International Prestige Scale, particularly among men. Third, the occupational attainment processes of American men and women are described with socioeconomic scoring, and these findings are contrasted with those which were obtained with prestige coding.

Bibliography Citation

Treas, Judith A. and Andrea Tyree. "Prestige Versus Socioeconomic Status in the Attainment Processes of American Men and Women." Social Science Research 8,3 (September 1979): 201-221.

This paper reports an investigation of the effects of socioeconomic and labor market factors on the dissolution of marriages since the mid 1960s. We examine the effects of possible sources of marital disruption, including poor labor market opportunities for young adults; the economic independence and improved labor market opportunities of women; and changes in the labor market roles and expectations of women within marriage. Using the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Men, Young Women, and Youth, we estimate the effects on marital stability of husbands' and wives' levels, differences and changes in educational attainment, income, and annual weeks worked. Our results suggest that average levels of couples' educational attainment and recent work experiences positively affect marital stability. The degree to which husbands and wives differ on educational attainment and income does not affect marital stability, but the more that wives work relative to their husbands, the greater the chances of disruption. Positive changes in wives' socioeconomic and labor force characteristics over the course of their marriages increase the odds of marital disruption. Copyright 1995, 1999 Academic Press, Inc.

It has been argued that child-support payments and visits by an absent father are positively related. As a result, improvements in visitation laws and the child support system are thought to have complementary effects on each other. However, previous empirical estimates ignore the causal relationship and simultaneity between child support and visitation, as well as possible heterogeneity in unobserved characteristics of parents. This paper uses data for a sample of custodial mothers and absent fathers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the relationship between child support and visitation. A set of simultaneous equations which eliminate unobserved differences between individuals are estimated. The findings indicate that changes in child support have no impact on changes in visitation and changes in visitation have no effect on changes in child support. The results suggest that the observed positive correlation between the two activities is due to unmeasured characteristic's of the parents.

Bibliography Citation

Veum, Jonathan R. "The Relationship Between Child Support and Visitation: Evidence from Longitudinal Data." Social Science Research 22,3 (September 1993): 229-244.

In this paper, evidence on the casual connection between employment of women and sex-role attitudes is presented and evaluated utilizing data from the Mature and Young Women cohorts. The effects of sex-role attitudes on labor force participation are reviewed and changes in sex-role attitudes during the next 15 years are projected. Information on the relationship between sex-role attitudes and labor market activity is used to make tentative projections of female labor force participation to 1990. ... The concept of the "family life cycle" provides a valuable context within which to study labor force participation of married women. This article tests the hypothesis that the process by which wives make the decision to supply labor to the market varies with position in that life cycle. An examination is made of market activity during the early stages of the cycle, from marriage through the completion of childbearing. The effects of the most important determinants of married women's labor force involvement are found to depend on life-cycle stage. Wives who consider their families complete tend to be more responsive to family financial circumstances and the characteristics of the labor market in which they live than do childless women or mothers who expect more children. History of employment is found to be most important in predicting current market activity for mothers who expect more children and least important for those who do not.

The present study examines the relationship between incarceration and post-prison residential mobility. In spite of recent research examining the residential context following incarceration, we know little about if or how incarceration affects individual patterns of residential mobility. This study starts to fill this gap in knowledge by drawing on nationally representative data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). I find that individuals with a history of incarceration are more likely to move after prison than they are before prison. This relationship holds even after accounting for various time-varying and time-stable sources of spuriousness, including other known correlates of mobility. Additional analyses suggest that this effect is strongest early in the reentry period, and that there exists important racial variation in the relationship between incarceration and mobility. These results imply that, while housing stability is an important feature of successful prisoner reentry, incarceration contributes to larger patterns of residential instability.

Non-Combat Military Service in the United States and Its Effects on Depressive Symptoms Among Men
Social Science Research 40,2 (March 2011): 695-703. also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X10002863
Cohort(s):
NLSY79
Publisher:
Academic Press, Inc.Keyword(s):
Depression (see also CESD); Health, Mental; Military Service; Stress; Veterans

Drawing on previous theoretical and empirical work, we posit that maternal employment influences on child well-being vary across birth cohorts. We investigate this possibility by analyzing longitudinal data from a sample of children and their mothers drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We introduce a series of age, cohort, and maternal employment interaction terms into multilevel models predicting child well-being to assess whether any potential short-term or long-term effects of early and current maternal employment vary across birth cohorts. Results indicate that maternal employment largely is inconsequential to child well-being regardless of birth cohort, with a few exceptions. For instance, children born in earlier cohorts may have experienced long-term positive effects of having an employed mother; however, as maternal employment became more commonplace in recent cohorts, these beneficial effects appear to have disappeared. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications of these findings.

Bibliography Citation

Wills, Jeremiah B. and Jonathan R. Brauer. "Have Children Adapted to Their Mothers Working, or Was Adaptation Unnecessary? Cohort Effects and the Relationship Between Maternal Employment and Child Well-Being." Social Science Research 41,2 (March 2012): 425-443.

This study investigates the contributions of pre-college selection factors that may partially lead to the college degree - health link by using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979) cohort. Propensity score matching method finds that the effects of college degree on various health outcomes (self-rated health, physical component summary index, health limitations, CESD scale) are reduced by 51% on average (range: 37%-70%) in the matched sample. Among these observed factors, cognitive skill is the biggest confounder, followed by pre-college health and socioeconomic characteristics (marital aspiration, years of schooling, marriage, fertility, poverty status) and non-cognitive skills (e.g., self-esteem). Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control scale is not significantly associated with all four health measures. The effects of most indicators of family background (parental education, family stability, family size, religious background) on the health of adult children are not direct but through offspring's early adulthood health and socioeconomic status.

Bibliography Citation

Zheng, Hui. "Why Does College Education Matter? Unveiling the Contributions of Selection Factors." Social Science Research 68 (November 2017): 59-73.